Only 1 in 5 millennials describe themselves as loyal to specific brands and that loyalty isn’t easily earned. Millennials can see through marketing claims and will question if your brand delivers on its promise. Loyalty is built on a number of factors, like reliability, the product’s quality and positive interactions with their customer service.  

Managing the customer experience (CX) is becoming more important than ever before—to the point it’s growing into a key differentiator between brands. Rather than disrupting industries through new product or services, businesses are focusing on disrupting industries through better customer experiences.

Thanks to mobile devices, social media, and e-commerce platforms, we all know how seamless the modern digital experience can be—to the point we’ve grown to expect that’s how they should be. In the financial services industry, startups like Acorns, Robinhood, Betterment, and Wealthfront have emerged as digital-first operations. These companies are built from the ground up to focus on stronger customer experience (CX). That starts with being easier to use, intuitive, reliable, and helpful. But true magic came by building new, innovative experiences that deliver even more value.

Empathy plays an integral role in the way companies interact with consumers. It helps us understand where someone else is coming from, what they think and how they feel. As a result, it helps organizations get a better understanding of the exact kinds of products customers want. It can also help companies improve processes, services, product packaging, marketing campaigns, and more.

As companies apply agile approaches to marketing and new product development, customer centricity has become even more critical improving customer experiences, building new products, and delivering relevant marketing communications. 

Forward-thinking companies are increasingly turning to online qualitative approaches in order to build better products, create better consumer experiences, and launch more successful marketing campaigns. But what is driving that change?